Duties of an LPN in hospice nursing?

[northmississippi]

Our hospitals here don't hire lpn's anymore other than the offices, that leaves nursing homes and hospice. I'm kinda new, spend a short while at a snf. Would like to know more about the "normal" duties of an lpn at a hospice. What is your day like and what skills do you normally do when you start? Thanks.

[Red Kryptonite]

I'm not a LPN yet (in school) but I work hospice with LPNs. I work mostly inpatient units, and our LPNs take patient assignments alongside RNs. The biggest difference is that they can't do IV meds or be charge nurses, but in a practical sense, other than that, they practice fairly equivalently to RNs. On the home care side, they can't be case managers, but I have heard that sometimes RNCMs delegate some routine visits to LPNs. I've also seen LPNs working in after-hours triage positions. Hope that's helpful. :)

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

LPNs also do continuous care when a patient needs that level of care. There are many services out there that employ LPNs for this purpose.

[QuiltDog]

We also have LPNs that work for on call, doing visits after hours. There are a couple types of visits they cannot do such as IVs and assessing for continuous care.

[toomuchbaloney]

What you would be able to do with hospice patients depends entirely upon the state you practice in and the policy of the agency.

I have worked with some really terrific LPNs over the years. In hospice they provide nursing care very similar to that of RNs, they simply cannot write the POCs, case manage a team of patients, or other specific skills outside of the scope in that state.

Good luck